Coffee enemas and colonics have long been considered a popular-yet-wacky alternative wellness remedy. But after Goop published a "detox guide" this week recommending a device for doing a coffee enema at home, the Internet is showing a renewed interest.

In the detox guide, Alejandro Junger, M.D., is credited as the person originally recommending the device in a previous article about colonics. Dr. Junger, a cardiologist based in Los Angeles, told Goop that he especially recommends getting a colonic when you're doing a cleanse (side note: don't do a cleanse). "During a cleanse the colon eliminates extra mucus," he told Goop. "Sometimes there is so much, and it is so sticky, that it stays adhered to the walls of the colon, blocking the elimination of what needs to be disposed of."

But other experts dispute those claims, saying that there's truly no need to give yourself a coffee enema or colonic literally ever.

We reached out to Goop (whose magazine is also published by Condé Nast, SELF's parent company) for comment and they directed us to speak with Dr. Junger or other proponents of this practice. We reached out to Dr. Junger's team twice during the week and were told that he was unavailable for comment at this time. So we spoke with two board-certified gastroenterologists who explained the differences between enemas and colonics, under what conditions you might consider one, and whether or not there should ever be coffee involved.

There is a time and a place for enemas, but you shouldn't be doing them without your doctor's blessing.

"There is a role for the enema [in medicine] because the concept of cleaning out the intestines is a worthy concept," Christine Lee, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Cleveland Clinic, tells SELF. "The mechanics of how that’s done is what needs to be discussed." With an enema, she explains, water or saline is delivered to the last part of your colon mainly via the gentle force of gravity.

The goal is, essentially, to dilute or dissolve any stool that's sitting up there to make it easier to poop out. And if you're dealing with extreme constipation or you're prepping for a sigmoidoscopy, your doctor might recommend that you try an enema to help things along.

But she cautions against trying a colonic, which delivers fluid further into the bowel using pressure, which can be especially dangerous for people who have had past surgeries in the area. Additionally, colonics usually aren't done in medical facilities, so their sterilization practices may not be ideal, putting you at risk for infections.

There isn't much research on coffee enemas, but what we do have suggests the harms outweigh any supposed benefits.

First off, no, you don't need to "detox" your colon or any other part of your body—you can thank your liver and kidneys for doing that already. "Our bodies have all of that in place," Lisa Ganjhu, D.O., a gastroenterologist and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, tells SELF. And, although drinking a moderate amount of coffee may come with some healthful benefits, you aren't going to get those by squirting it up your butt.

Then there are all the potential harms: You've got the risk for infection from the tools, the risk for irritation from putting a foreign substance into a delicate part of your body (as opposed to something inert, like water or saline), the potential for bowel perforation, and, according to a 2010 case report in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, there's a risk for proctocolitis, a serious inflammation of the colon.

Your colon does make mucus, but that's actually a good thing.

The more constipated you are, the longer poop sits in your colon (duh). And the longer poop stays there, the harder and drier it gets, says Dr. Ganjhu.

As your food goes from small bowel to colon, all of the nutrients are extracted and it becomes a soft, slushlike consistency. "The colon's duty is to suck out all the extra water and put that back into your system," she says, which dries out and firms up the stool. "If the stool stays longer in the colon, it can become almost rock hard," Dr. Ganjhu says, "so the colon secretes a mucus-like substance around the hard stool so it can slip out easier."

Basically, you don't want—or need—a device to get rid of this excess mucus.

Sometimes, excessive amounts of mucus can be a sign of an infection or serious condition, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. But most of the time, it isn't something you need to be worried about or get rid of—it's a natural, helpful response to constipation. So, even if you do need to have an enema, it's not because you're producing too much mucus.

If you're experiencing any new symptoms, it's crucial to get to the root of them before trying to treat them on your own with an enema.

"If these symptoms are new to you, you need to know why," Dr. Lee says. That's because there are a ton of health issues that can cause bloating, constipation, and fatigue. Those include inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, neurological issues, and even ovarian cancer.

But, if you do check in with your doctor and you're just dealing with run-of-the-mill constipation, there are plenty of other, safer things you can do to alleviate your symptoms. That might be as simple as drinking more water or eating more fiber, or it might require an over-the-counter laxative, Dr. Ganjhu says.